A native Chicagoan, I spent a good part of my childhood in the halls
of the Art Institute, but I also spent time outdoors, exploring the Morton Arboretum and the Chicago lakefront. In high school, I announced that I wanted to become a “connoisseur of light.” I felt that we were put here on earth to really see.
After graduating from DePaul University with majors in Philosophy and Psychology, I served as research assistant to renowned architect Harry Weese. My investigations of issues of interest to Weese launched my career as a freelance journalist. I authored articles published in the Chicago Tribune, Sun-Times, and Chicago Magazine. These led to my next job as managing editor of the prestigious architectural journal Inland Architect.
One of my research assignments had been learning everything I could about Lake Michigan, which was very helpful when I was hired by the Lake Michigan Federation, a citizen’s environmental organization. After becoming Executive Director and managing water quality projects in the four states around Lake Michigan, I went back to school and earned a M.S. in Environmental Biology. In my thirties, I moved to Flagstaff, Arizona and earned a Ph.D. in Biology. I was hired as a lecturer at Northern Arizona University and taught Biology and Animal Behavior courses on live interactive television, from studio-classrooms around the state.
It was during this period that I took a stained glass class just for fun. I immediately resonated with glass because it is a perfect partner to light. I discovered that fusing glass in a kiln allowed an artist to bend and shape it, so I took fusing workshops. While an NAU faculty member, I entered NAU’s jewelry- making program and became a metalsmith so that I could set my fused glass into jewelry.
In 2001, I left teaching and sold my glass pieces in galleries in Arizona and California. In 2003, I took a hiatus from glass art in order to run an e-commerce website, but returned in 2014. At that point, I designed and built larger fused glass pieces in a limited palette of red and black in order to learn more about composition and design. I was accepted into a juried show in England and my pieces were awarded a Creativity Award at a juried exhibition at the Sedona Arts Center.
As my designs evolved, I felt the impetus to delve deeper into abstract art. The versatility of acrylics, the speed of creation and production compared to glass fusing, and the explosion of color possibilities immediately captured my attention. Painting in acrylics has allowed me to explore techniques for achieving texture, balance, and dynamism, as well as expanding my unique personal artistic style. My husband and I live in the Verde Valley of Arizona.
If you're interested in learning more about what I'm discovering and creating as an artist, please stop by my blog at: https://www.judekai.com/
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Thank you and I hope you enjoyed looking at my work!